Nick Watney
| Nick Watney | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Nicholas Alan Watney |
| Born | April 25, 1981 Sacramento, California |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight | 180 lb (82 kg; 13 st) |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Residence | Henderson, Nevada[1] |
| Career | |
| College | Fresno State University |
| Turned professional | 2003 |
| Current tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Former tour(s) | Canadian Tour Nationwide Tour |
| Professional wins | 7 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 4 |
| Nationwide Tour | 1 |
| Other | 2 |
| Best results in Major Championships |
|
| Masters Tournament | 7th: 2010 |
| U.S. Open | T60: 2008 |
| The Open Championship | T7: 2010 |
| PGA Championship | T12: 2011 |
Nicholas Alan Watney (born April 25, 1981) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. The highlight of Watney's career to date is his victory at the 2011 WGC-Cadillac Championship.
In July 2011, Watney broke into the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career, after his victory at the AT&T National, placing him tenth in the world.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Watney was born in Sacramento, California. He played his high school golf at Davis Senior High School in Davis, California. He played collegiate golf under his uncle Mike Watney at Fresno State University, where he was a three-time All-America golfer.[3] He turned professional in 2003, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Mike Watney, who played on the PGA Tour in the 1970s.[4]
[edit] Professional career
In 2003, Watney's first professional victory came at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial on the Canadian Tour. The next year he played on the Nationwide Tour, and after winning the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship, Watney earned qualification for the PGA Tour.
In 2007, after two years of slow progress, Watney won his first PGA Tour title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This victory took Watney into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. He got his second tour win at the 2009 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, with a one-stroke victory over John Rollins, taking him to his highest position yet in the World Golf Rankings, number 76.
In the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Watney had a three-shot lead going into the final round. However, he shot a final round of 81, which dropped him back to a tie for 18th place.[5]
Watney won the biggest tournament of his career to date and his first World Golf Championship at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in March 2011. He entered the final round trailing by two strokes, but shot a final round 67, including a run of four birdies in five holes in the middle of the round, and finished with a birdie at the notoriously difficult 18th, to record a two-stroke victory over compatriot Dustin Johnson.[6] Watney admitted in an interview afterwards that he had dwelt on finishing 2nd at Doral, in the same tournament two years before, when his putt on the 18th finished a couple of inches short of the hole.[7] After the victory, Watney moved up to number 15 in the World Golf Rankings.[8]
In July, Watney won for the second time in 2011 at the AT&T National by beating K. J. Choi by two strokes. The victory owed much to his third-round score when he set a course record 62 around Aronimink Golf Club, beating the previous record set coincidently on the same day, which Chris Kirk and Steve Marino held briefly with joint 63s. Watney shot a 27 on the back nine, which tied the second lowest nine-hole score ever recorded on the PGA Tour. The record is held by Corey Pavin who shot 26 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee in 2006. During the final round Watney did not record a single bogey, making a number of crucial par saving putts to hold off the challenge of Choi and capture his fourth PGA Tour title.[9] This win took Watney to the top of the FedEx Cup standings, ahead of Choi, and into the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career. He finished the 2011 season ranked third on the PGA Tour money list.
During the 2011 President's Cup, he defeated K.J. Choi on the final day to give the United States team a distinct advantage over the International Team coached by Greg Norman. The four-day match play tournament was played in Melbourne, Australia.
Watney's win over Choi was significant toward America's Team victory and personally Nick decidedly defeated (3 and 2) a golfer who had a terrific year on tour and in the 2011 major tournaments. This is an indication of how Watney's game has already improved to match the very best golfers on earth.
[edit] Personal life
Watney's cousin is journalist Heidi Watney.
[edit] Professional wins (7)
[edit] PGA Tour wins (4)
|
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 22, 2007 | Zurich Classic of New Orleans | -15 (69–67–68–69=273) | 3 strokes | Ken Duke |
| 2 | Feb 8, 2009 | Buick Invitational | -11 (69–69–71–68=277) | 1 stroke | John Rollins |
| 3 | Mar 13, 2011 | WGC-Cadillac Championship | -16 (67–70–68–67=272) | 2 strokes | Dustin Johnson |
| 4 | Jul 3, 2011 | AT&T National | -13 (70–69–62–66=267) | 2 strokes |  K. J. Choi |
[edit] Nationwide Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct 31, 2004 | Nationwide Tour Championship | -15 (69–64–71–69=273) | 3 strokes | Brett Wetterich |
[edit] Canadian Tour wins (1)
- 2003 Lewis Chitengwa Memorial Championship
[edit] Other wins (1)
[edit] Results in major championships
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | T11 | 19 | 7 | 46 |
| U.S. Open | CUT | T60 | CUT | 76 | CUT |
| The Open Championship | T35 | DNP | T27 | T7 | CUT |
| PGA Championship | CUT | DNP | CUT | T18 | T12 |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
[edit] Summary
- Tournaments played: 17
- Wins: 0
- Top 10s: 2
- Top 25s: 5
- Missed cuts: 6
- Most consecutive cuts made: 5
[edit] World Golf Championships
[edit] Wins (1)
| Year | Championship | 54 Holes | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | WGC-Cadillac Championship | 2 shot deficit | -16 (67–70–68–67=272) | 2 strokes | Dustin Johnson |
[edit] Results timeline
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| Accenture Match Play Championship | DNP | DNP |
| Cadillac Championship | DNP | DNP |
| Bridgestone Invitational | T61 | DNP |
| Tournament | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accenture Match Play Championship | DNP | R16 | R16 | R16 |
| Cadillac Championship | 2 | T26 | 1 | |
| Bridgestone Invitational | T36 | T16 | T23 | |
| HSBC Champions | 5 | T21 | T33 |
- DNP = Did not play
- QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
- "T" = tied
- Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
- Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
[edit] U.S. national team appearances
Professional
- World Cup: 2009
- Presidents Cup: 2011 (winners)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ What they said: Nick Watney
- ^ "Week 27 - Nick Watney Moves Into The World Top 10 With Victory At The AT&T National". Official World Golf Ranking. July 4, 2011. http://www.owgr.com/NEWS/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=6653903&itype=421. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ Wild for Watney Fresno Bee, April 23, 2007
- ^ The journey of Nick Watney, John Berkovich, e-sports.com, August 22, 2005.
- ^ Kaplan, Thomas (August 16, 2010). "Like 3rd-Round Leader, Round of 81 Is Lost in Shuffle". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/sports/golf/16watney.html. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
- ^ "Watney comes up big to win". SF Gate. March 14, 2011. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/14/SPGM1IAAJI.DTL.
- ^ "Nick Watney wins WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral". BBC Sport. March 13, 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/9423854.stm. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
- ^ "Week 11 – Nick Watney Wins The WGC-Cadillac Championship And Jumps To World Number 15". http://www.owgr.com/NEWS/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=6653887&itype=421. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
- ^ "Watney wins for the second time in 2011 at Aronimink". Sky Sports. July 3, 2011. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12176_7016667,00.html. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
[edit] External links
- Nick Watney at the PGA Tour official site
- Nick Watney at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
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